Christmas 2009

We celebrated Christmas multiple time this year - first in Houston, just the 3 of us. Then, we went to Michigan. In January my parents came to Houston for a "3rd" Christmas (I'll post pictures of that later.) Lincoln will probably grow up thinking it's normal to celebrate several times, but as I adore Christmas time, I say the more times we celebrate, the better!! :) It was really fun to have a White Christmas up north, to be able to visit with both families, and enjoy our last holiday as a "family of 3" before our sweet baby is born.

Christmas in Houston

Before we left we did our own family Christmas at home as we've done the past few years. But instead of picking up dinner, or cooking (in the past we've done We went out to dinner, then came back to open gifts. Lincoln got a tool set (his favorite gift) some bath toys, a foam sword (Yes, I only bought one...being a girl, it did not occur to me to buy 2, so he could sword fight with someone. Andrew immediately caught this disparity, but since Christmas I have been unable to find another one. I'll keep looking :) The funniest part, however, was that a few weeks earlier Linc had seen "Spike Jr. Dinosaur" on display at Target and declared that he really wanted one. It walked, roared, laughed, etc. (He's been very into Dinos lately.) I then did something I swore I'd never do - I became that parent who tried to track down "the it toy" for Christmas. Of course, every store was sold out by this time. But on a 3rd round of calls (yes, I spent a whole day at work not billing, trying to find this silly dinosaur) I struck gold at a Toys R Us. They had one returned! So I leave work early to rush over there and buy it. I got caught in a freak rain storm and spent 1 1/2 hrs on the highway attempting to get home, due to traffic accidents. BUT STILL, I HAD TRIUMPHED. As I glowered in traffic I glanced at Spike and felt justified - Lincoln would be so excited! I couldn't wait for him to open it. So, imagine my surprise when Lincoln opened Spike, we got him out of the box and turned him on, and Lincoln burst into tears. He leapt into Andrew's lap yelling "no, no, no, scary. Put him back." Humph. As I write this entry (3 months later) Spike is still sitting on a shelf, barely played with.

Christmas in Michigan

We had a fun, busy trip up North. We spent time in Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, saw tons of family, and loved watching all the little cousins play together. We especially loved watching Linc interact with all of his cousins. (Lincoln thought Gaines was the coolest person on earth and also enjoyed playing with Ana, Maddux, Mya, Braylon, Riley, Carter, and Morgan.) They all kept us laughing! Linc and Ana both loved to dance, and turn on every single Hallmark Christmas toy that made noise in Grandma and Grampa's house (and they had several...by the end of our visit, all the adults were a little sick and tired of hearing "Frosty the Snowman" or "Grandma got run over by a reindeer." But not the kiddos! The 110th time was just as hilarious as the 10th.) They loved playing with all of the toys down in the basement, and even tried their hand at baseball on the Wii (Gaines was old enough to begin to get it...Lincoln just liked to swing the controller around :) Andrew, Lincoln, Gaines, Ana, Shawna, Will, Steve and Brandon also went sledding. Lincoln thought the sledding part was fun, but didn't like falling in the snow. Gaines and Ana, however, were ALL OVER IT. They all looked so cute bundled up.

Here are some pictures that captured our trip -

The last Christmas morning just the three of us!

"GG" bought all the great-grandkids matching Christmas outfits...and we managed to get all of them in one photo (but not all looking at the camera, of course!) (Except Maeley, who was in Georgia with her other grandparents.)
And on the Leeser side (minus Maeley):
Love my "sista" Shawna!


Linc with his great grandpa Leeser (86):

Linc and Gaines - Best Buddies!
We love Uncle Brandon! (Next Christmas, Brandon will be deployed in Iraq, so it was especially good to be able to spend this holiday with him.)

And...sledding!

This was also the first year that Linc started to understand some Christmas traditions. We had not talked much about Santa, figuring that he was still a bit young to care. But boy were we wrong; apparently they talked A LOT about Santa at his school. On Christmas Eve, as he was going to bed, Lincoln asked "Santa will come because I've been a good boy? Will I get presents?" When we assured him that was correct he said "Good - because I want a reindeer." We tried to explain that Santa didn't leave reindeer under the tree, but he wasn't disuaded. He then declared that we should go to the North Pole to "visit the deer" like "Pooh and Piglet did." (A Winnie the Pooh Christmas special had aired recently, stoking this desire :)

"2nd Christmas" in Houston

In early January, Grandma and PJ came to visit and have Christmas with Lincoln. By this time, he was a pro opening gifts. He loved his Melissa and Doug puzzles, playdough set, and set of fake food and a knife that he could cut. (who knew that slicing wooden zucchinis and loaves of bread could be so exciting to a toddler? But it was!) It was a great visit. Mom and Dad were also very helpful getting the nursery ready for Lawson's arrival - but that will be another post!